DETROIT, Mich. – The University of Detroit Mercy School of Law is co-sponsoring with the Real Property Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan the Second Annual Urban Farming Symposium on Friday, May 18, 2012, from 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. at the School’s Riverfront Campus located at 651 East Jefferson Avenue in downtown Detroit. Professor Jacqueline Hand, a tenured professor at the School teaching Property Law and Environmental Law, is co-chairing the event with Gregory J. Gamalski (UDM Law, 1983), a partner in the Business Practice Group of Giarmarco, Mullins & Horton, PC, in Troy, Michigan, and Paul Thursam, an associate at GMH.

The Symposium is a discussion and examination of key urban issues, which must include urban agriculture and the re-purposing of Detroit. Detroit is a laboratory where urban farming is fermenting, evolving, and growing. The event is open to the public but will be directed toward the legal community and planning organizations. The Symposium is intended to establish a reasoned framework for discussions about the legal and policy issues that should be considered by local units of government and citizens grappling with this dynamic concept.

Symposium speakers include Neil Hamilton of Drake University; Brad Deacon of the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development; Kathryn Colasanti of the Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at MSU; and Melanie Duda, an expert in urban agriculture.

Neil Hamilton is a Professor of Law and Director of The Agricultural Law Center at Drake University. As one of the nation’s leading authorities on the role of law in shaping agriculture and the food system, Prof. Hamilton has lectured throughout the United States and in 20 other countries. He has taught agricultural law for 30 years and has written more than four dozen law review articles and several books on food and agricultural law issues. Each year he is a visiting professor in the agricultural law graduate program at the University of Arkansas.

Brad Deacon is the Emergency Management and Administrative Law Coordinator for the Michigan Department of Agriculture & Rural Development. Mr. Deacon has an undergraduate and a law degree from Michigan State University and studied business and economics at the University of the Saarland in Germany on a Fulbright grant. He is the co-chair of the Michigan Food & Agriculture Protection and Defense Working Group, and he represents the Department on the Homeland Security Advisory Council, the Homeland Security Preparedness Committee, the Michigan Citizen-Community Emergency Response Coordinating Council, and the State Animal Response Team Board.

Kathryn Colasanti is a visiting specialist with the Mott Group for Sustainable Food Systems at Michigan State University. She has a master’s degree in community food and agriculture from MSU. Before joining the Mott Group in 2007, she worked on an urban farm and with a community garden non-profit in Denver. Ms. Colasanti is interested in local food systems, particularly in the urban context; food security and access; local food system planning; and urban agriculture. She coordinates the Michigan Good Food Charter Development project and conducts research and outreach related to urban agriculture and local food systems with the group.

Melanie Duda is a third-year student at the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and is graduating in May 2012. She is a member of the Law Review and serves as a Symposium Editor. Ms. Duda’s article, “Growing in the D: Revising Current Laws to Promote a Model of Sustainable City Agriculture,” will be published in Volume 89 of the Law Review, forthcoming later in 2012. She earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Anthropology from Wayne State University, where much of the research she did as a graduate student fostered her interest in urban agriculture.

For additional information or to register for the May 18th Urban Farming Symposium, please see the link on the home page of the UDM Law web site at www.law.udmercy.edu. Space is limited and reservations are required ($40 general admission and $10 additional fee for a guided walking tour of Detroit’s famed Eastern Market).

EVENTS

Find out why men and women have been choosing Detroit Mercy Law for over 100 years for their legal education. Learn how Detroit Mercy Law not only teaches you the law, but teaches you how to be a lawyer. Through your education here, you will become a lawyer who makes a difference in your workplace and your community.

Attendees will have the opportunity to tour the campus and speak with admissions representatives, faculty, and current students.

University of Detroit Mercy School of Law and University of Windsor Faculty of Law will launch their joint International Intellectual Property Law Clinic on Wednesday, January 11, from 12:00 - 2:00 pm in the atrium of Detroit Mercy Law. Leaders of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and the Canadian Intellectual Property Office will join IP attorneys from both countries, faculty, students, alumni, and media to celebrate this one-of-a-kind clinic and discuss collaborations between the schools and the countries' IP offices. For additional information about the event and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Assistant Dean Denise Hickey.

Detroit Mercy Law is hosting its Second Annual Patent Drafting Competition, beginning with a reception on Friday, February 10, from 5:30 - 7:00 pm in the atrium. Competitors from 12 law schools across the U.S. and Canada will join leaders of intellectual property law, including representatives of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office and attorneys, alumni, faculty, and administrators, to kick-off the competition. The competition will be held on Saturday, February 11, at the USPTO satellite office in Detroit, a few minutes from the Detroit Mercy Law campus. For additional information regarding the event and sponsorship opportunities, please contact Assistant Dean Denise Hickey.

Our annual McElroy Lecture provides a forum for prominent thinkers and leaders to address fundamental issues of law and religion. This year's lecturer is Intisar A. Rabb, a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and Director of its Islamic Legal Studies Program. Dr. Rabb also holds an appointment as a Professor of History at Harvard University and as the Susan S. and Kenneth L. Wallach Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

The lecture will be held on March 2, 2017, from 5:00 – 6:00 pm in room 226, followed by a complimentary reception in the atrium.

The Law Review will host its annual symposium on March 3, 2017. The symposium will feature legal professionals and scholars from across the country to discuss the American Bar Association's implementation of Standards 314 and 315, which deal with formative assessments in law school classrooms. For more information click HERE.

NEWS

Congratulations to Professor Florise Neville-Ewell for her Micro Grant award to be used for the Veteran Town Hall Meeting Project. The Mission Micro Grant Program awards annual grants to Detroit Mercy faculty or staff members in support of activities that promote Detroit Mercy's mission of being a Catholic, Mercy, Jesuit, urban and student-centered university.

Legal News recently featured a profile on Bill Ladd ('79) who has spent his entire career in the protection of the rights of Children and is one of a handful of attorneys certified as an expert in child abuse/neglect in Michigan by the National Association of Counsel for Children.

Third-year student Saeb Haidar won second place in the Michigan Education Law Writing Competition, conducted by Michigan State University College of Law.

Students from any Michigan law school could participate by writing a client letter on a provided hypothetical, with practicing education law attorneys serving as judges. The winners were honored at a reception on November 16.

After learning of the results, Haidar said that he takes pride in showing that Detroit Mercy Law students can successfully compete with students from any other Michigan law school.

Professor Gary Maveal published a front-page editorial in the Detroit Legal News on Michigan's management of public water resources. Prof. Maveal questions the priorities of the state government and ponders reforms.

Michael Valenti is following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Toronto lawyer Paul Valenti – who at 89 continues to practice law full time. Valenti is a third-year student in the Canadian & American Dual J.D. Program. He serves as the Executive President of Detroit Mercy Law's Student Bar Association. His goal for the SBA is to create an environment of inclusivity and foster student involvement.